The Institute of Town Planners India, Telangana Regional Chapter, Hyderabad (ITPI – TRC) in association with HMDA organized a One day workshop on “Integrated Master Plan for Hyderabad Metropolitan Region”. The workshop was ordered to happen by Hon’ble Sri K. T Rama Rao – Minister for IT, Industries, MAUD and NRI affairs. The workshop was organised with an objective of getting a holistic view from the eminent town planners across the country required to integrate the 5 existing master plans for the Hyderabad city and developing a comprehensive revised master plan for Hyderabad Metropolitan Region (HMR) integrating the present day requirements, incorporating the need for the development of Transit Oriented Growth Corridors and the development of the region around ORR and beyond essential to transform Hyderabad into a global smart city.

The workshop created a platform to deliberate and debate and simultaneously assimilate the experiences of the town planners and integrate it with Government’s vision for the city. The new master plan requires to provide for a seamless connectivity by simplification and standardization of zoning regulations, using the state of the art technology and incorporating the global best practices with inclusive planning and provision for best in class social amenities to transform Hyderabad into a world class city meeting the future requirements.

Welcoming the dignitaries Sri. K. Anand Babu, DTCP, Telangana State and Chairman ITPI – TRC Hyderabad said “Telangana is on a fast pace of growth and development. It is a matter of great pride that today Telangana is ranked as one amongst the best states for doing business due to the proactive policies and quick decision making. With rapid growth, it is essential to plan for the future and streamline and integrate the existing Master plans for Hyderabad. There is a need to remove the shortcomings of the existing plans and demark areas for specific purposes and plan the future infrastructure to support the growth and development of the city and transform it into a global smart city is desired. We are organizing this workshop in association with HMDA to deliberate on the issues and challenges in preparing the integrated comprehensive master plan for Hyderabad.”

Setting the tone for the workshop Sri. T Chiranjeevulu, IAS, Commissioner, HMDA said, “The Hyderabad metropolitan region has 5 different plans in different formats with different zoning regions etc. To integrate the plans we need to adopt a 3 pronged strategy. The first phase would be to convert the existing master plans in the same format and achieve seamless connectivity. It requires to achieve uniform zoning regulations and common horizon year for a proper integration of different land use corridors and the development of infrastructure while preserving the existing environment and heritage. The exercise required the preparation of guiding principles, incorporation of global best practices and the inputs from all stake holders to evolve a shared vision while preparing a Concept plan for 2041 with a projection of population growth to 19 Mn from the present 9.4 Mn. The development of integrated and revised master plan for HMR needs to have a proper assessment of the existing situation by removing the existing anomalies and incorporating the revised integrated and finalized plan for Hyderabad.”

Adding to this Dr. D S Meshram, President ITPI said, “The biggest challenge for the cities today is to have a comprehensive master plan for the city capturing the accurate details of different preservation and development zones and detailed specifications for drainage, water and sanitation, roads and transport with traffic flows, electricity, drinking water supply, telecommunication and optical fibre network along with the planning for the future infrastructure required by the city. The workshop is organized by ITPI Telangana regional chapter to gather the insights from the experience of the Town Planners across the country and to discuss, debate and collate the issues and challenges to develop a comprehensive master plan for the city.”

Thanking the participants Sri K. Purushotham Reddy, Director Planning HMDA and Hon. Secretary, Institute of Town Planners India – Telangana Regional Chapter said “Last 2 years, since the formation of Telangana State, we have seen a lot of proactive measures being taken by the government making the state one of the best managed states in the country. Hyderabad city has a cosmopolitan population of approx. 10 million which will probably double when the corporates start and enhance the operations in the city. Even the 158 Km 8 lane ORR with the established radial road network will house the proposed Transit oriented growth corridors, needing to be developed as self-sustained townships. This workshop has raised some pertinent issues and brought to light invaluable experiences of the town planners from other metros to be kept in mind while we work at integrating and preparing a comprehensive revised master plan for Hyderabad. We thank the delegates for sparing their time and sharing the valuable inputs.”

The institute of Town Planners, India was established in 1951 with the objective to provide a formal structure and advance the study of town planning, civic design and kindered subjects. The Institute promotes planned economic, scientific and artistic development of towns, cities and rural areas. It sets the guidelines for the practice of town planning and conducts various seminars, conferences and meetings to exchange views on matters relating to town and country planning.